GDC 13: Sifteo awards indies $50k for experimental games

Interactive gaming outfit Sifteo has awarded two indie developres with $25,000 each as part of the experimental gameplay project.

The EGP, run by a number of indies including World of Goo creator Kyle Gabler, which holds monthly competitions based on a specific theme, recently teamed up with Sifteo to hold a community-based development contest.

Entrants were tasked with making a title for Sifteo Cubes, tiny interactive cubes that respond to gestures and communicate information wirelessly to each other.

The two finalists to receive a publishing deal and $25,000 each in funding to finish their games were One Life Remains with ‘best in multiplayer’ bicycle racer Paraplui and ‘best in single player’ titles Squaresville by Frank Force.

"We don't have the monopoly on creativity here at Sifteo, so we're reaching out to top developers all over the world,” said Sifteo co-founder Jeevan Kalanithi.

“We're helping them turn their awesome concepts into fully realized games that they can share with everybody.”

As well as the EGP contest, Sifteo has revealed three new game releases for its cube tech using the company’s open software development kit.

New games in the indie game pack include Die Gute Fabrik and Chris Osborn’s (Of JS Joust and Bit.Trip fame) tower building title Tower No Tumble, Josh Lee’s bluffing game Low Rollr and Mark Essen’s, Minusbaby’s and Chris Osborn’s music-based release F.R.E.S.H.

“Sifteo was founded by makers to define interaction at the inch scale,” said Sifteo co-founder David Merrill.

"Mobile phones and tablets have become great game systems, but we felt the need to develop a platform that was fundamentally tactile, merging physical and digital play to a level way beyond any other platform."